The staircase groaned beneath their feet as Ilyari and Tazien descended, each step humming faintly with energy that seemed to pulse in time with their heartbeats.

  It was cold down here—colder than it should have been, as if the air had never moved, never lived. Every breath tasted metallic, sharp, laced with something ancient and electric that prickled at the back of their throats.

  Tazien’s boots scraped softly against the narrow steps, the sound unnaturally loud in the dense hush. Even their breathing felt too present, like the space was pressing in, listening.

  “…Why does it feel like it’s watching us?” he whispered, voice tight.

  Ilyari’s eyes stayed locked on the swaying glow of glyphs spiraling faintly along the walls. “Because it probably is,” she whispered back, glancing over her shoulder.

  The hum grew deeper as they stepped lower, vibrating through the soles of their boots and up their legs. Ilyari’s fingertips brushed the rough stone wall beside her, only to yank her hand back with a hiss.

  “It’s… warm,” she muttered, rubbing her fingers together. “Like skin. But it’s stone.”

  “Stone doesn’t pulse,” Tazien muttered, pausing to rest his hand lightly against the wall too. His eyes widened. “By the stars, it’s alive.”

  The light deepened around them, flickering in odd, rhythmic patterns—too precise for random magic. With every step, it felt like something was shifting beneath them, waiting.

  Tazien exhaled slowly, his breath puffing out visibly in the chill. “This is where it eats us, right? Staircase caves in, we fall for a hundred years, and someone writes a cautionary tale.”

  “Shut up,” Ilyari hissed, eyes narrowing as she pressed forward. “Don’t say things like that.”

  But she paused too, resting her hand on the hilt of her dagger as a deep vibration rolled through the staircase, like a breath being drawn—then held.

  The silence that followed was crushing. A thick, heavy nothing, like all sound had been sucked out of the world.

  “…Okay,” Tazien whispered, trying to keep his voice light but failing. “This definitely counts as the creepiest basement in history.”

  Ilyari swallowed hard, her throat dry and tight. “It’s not a basement. It’s a tomb.”

  And still, they kept descending.

  In the center of the chamber sat a pedestal, carved from a black metal neither of them could name. Resting atop it was a scroll sealed tight with a woven band of silver glyphs that refused to move no matter how they touched it.

  Tazien frowned, leaning in closer, eyes narrowing at the shimmering seal. “It’s locked,” he muttered. “Magically. I think it’s waiting.”

  “For what?” Ilyari whispered, brushing her fingertips along the edge of the pedestal. The surface was cool but pulsed faintly under her skin—like a heartbeat buried deep within.

  “Maybe… for us to be ready.”

  Ilyari pulled her hand back quickly, shaking out her fingers. “Ready for what? Another test? Or a punishment?”

  Tazien smirked, but his eyes stayed cautious. “If it were a punishment, we’d already be ash.”

  “Comforting,” Ilyari muttered. She reached out again, hesitating an inch above the scroll. “It’s… humming,” she whispered, brow furrowed. “Like it knows who we are.”

  Tazien mirrored her, placing his hand gently on the pedestal’s side. His brow furrowed deeper. “It’s weird. It doesn’t feel hostile, but…” His hand tensed slightly. “It feels heavy. Like it’s weighing us. Judging.”

  A long silence stretched, the charged air buzzing softly around them.

  Tazien finally broke it, eyes flicking up to Ilyari. “You know… all those years you said we were Royalty? That we weren’t just a pair of dirt-farm nobodies?”

  She met his gaze, quiet but steady.

  He shook his head slowly, lips pressing into a thin line. “I thought you were holding onto scraps. You and Ma’Ryn both. Just… something to make it easier to sleep at night.”

  Her shoulders stiffened, but she didn’t look away. “And now?”

  Tazien looked around the chamber—the latticework of living Code threading through the walls like veins of starlight. He exhaled hard. “Now… now I don’t know.”

  Ilyari blinked. “You don’t know?”

  He pulled his hand back, rubbing at his knuckles absently. “I mean, yeah—it’s… something. All of this.” He gestured around them, eyes darting to the sealed scroll and the impossible room. “But if we’re really Royalty—if we’re part of that bloodline—why keep us alive? Why stick us in the dirt and pretend we don’t exist? It doesn’t add up.”

  His voice dropped lower, uncertain. “Why us? We’re nobody.”

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  Ilyari’s jaw worked for a second before she answered, her voice tight. “Maybe because we’re all that’s left.”

  “Or maybe,” Tazien said darkly, “because we’re bait. Or leverage. Or a loose thread they never bothered to cut because we’re too small to matter.”

  She fell silent at that, eyes shadowed. The pedestal hummed between them, indifferent.

  Ilyari finally pressed her palm flat to the cool metal, staring at the glowing glyphs. “We’ve always been Nyameji, Taz. Even when no one wanted us to be.”

  Tazien didn’t answer right away. His gaze stayed locked on the shimmering seal, a muscle jumping in his jaw. “…I want to believe that.”

  She turned her head, watching him quietly. “But you don’t.”

  He shrugged, tense. “Not yet.”

  Her eyes drifted to the side—landing on the small, hand-stitched children’s book resting next to the scroll.

  “…Then let’s see if that changes your mind.”

  Beside the scroll lay something stranger — a small, hand-stitched children’s book, its corners softened by time, the title etched in silver thread:

  The Song of the First Light: A Tale of Fallen

  They opened it gently. The pages were warm, the ink glowed faintly in the dim blue light of the room.

  It read like the stories Ma’Ryn used to tell them — but deeper. It was history.

  Long before stars were born and kingdoms carved sky from stone, there was only silence.

  And into that silence stepped a wanderer — the First Light, the God of Code.

  His name was Fallen.

  He did not shape this world from clay or fire — he wove it from logic and love. From rhythm. From song. He formed the first family that he shared his knowledge and would pass down from generation to generation, he created others the same way. Then he created other creatures and bid that they live in harmony.

  Fallen used the Code to awaken oceans, to lift mountains, to teach trees how to reach toward the sky. He seeded life not as master, but as guide.

  But the peace did not last.

  Others came.

  Seven Gods. Each with their own desires, hungers, visions and created their own beings and factions.

  And where once there was harmony — now there were borders, alliances and wars.

  Fallen stayed neutral. So did two of his kind. But neutrality was not safety.

  Nyameji — the land that held Fallen’s temple — was attacked first.

  Betrayed by even those who once called him ally.

  The dark god found a home in Kaisulane. Others spread through the world, twisting the balance.

  And Fallen… disappeared.

  The final page showed an image of a massive tree, glowing blue at its roots, split by dark chains.

  Ilyari closed the book with trembling hands.

  “…Fallen was real,” she whispered. “Not just code. Not just some mystic metaphor or bedtime story.”

  “Wait, if he shared the code with the first family then that means that we are from that family then?,” Tazien said. “But who are the others that were created like us? Shouldn’t there be others?”

  Ilyari closed the book and shrugged. “This is my first time hearing about any others.” she looked around the darkness and froze. Tazien followed her eyes

  And then they saw it.

  Against the far wall — two weapons rested on a carved stone altar.

  A pair of blades, each forged in swirling metal that looked like etched moonlight. Lines of the Code glowed along the edges, rippling with quiet power. Between them hung a cloak — tattered, stained, weathered by time. It was Ma’Ryn’s, the same that she had been wearing in the vision they saw moments earlier.

  The shoulder bore the insignia of the Code Knights. The stain across its chest — a faded smear of dried blood and a tear on the side Ma’Ryn’s arm that was lost.

  The day they were taken.

  Ilyari stepped forward and reached for it, hands trembling.

  “This isn’t just a memory,” she said softly.

  Tazien nodded. “It’s a beginning.”

  A sudden murmur—low, sharp—echoed down the stairwell, distorted and eerie.

  Ilyari froze, her hand still gripping the cloak.

  Another voice answered, clearer now, but still warped and distant, like the room itself was bending the sound toward them—warning them.

  She snapped her gaze to Tazien, eyes wide. “Not a sound,” she whispered, voice like cracked glass. “If they catch us down here…”

  She didn’t finish—but the words hung in the air like a blade.

  Tazien’s face tightened, panic sparking in his eyes. “We should’ve covered the hatch,” he hissed, shoving the children’s book back onto the pedestal with shaking hands. “Stars, I knew it—”

  “Quiet!” Ilyari bit back, breath sharp and ragged. Her fingers fumbled as she hurried to re-drape Ma’Ryn’s cloak onto the altar. The fabric caught on a jagged edge and she yanked too hard, the rip of cloth echoing through the charged silence. Her heart hammered so fast she thought she’d faint from it.

  Boots thudded just outside—on the porch.

  “…Anything?” one soldier grunted, his voice filtering through the slats of the wooden window frame. He sounded bored, irritated.

  “Nah,” another answered, rougher, dismissive. “It’s dead quiet in there. Told you—this is a waste of time.”

  “We were ordered to keep watch,” a third voice snapped. “The brass said these two—what are their names—Il-something and the boy—been doing weird things. Mana spikes, strange reports.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Kids. Scared villagers. I’m telling you, they’re just mud-grubbers like the rest of this trash sector.”

  Ilyari’s stomach twisted with anger, but fear anchored her in place. Her hands trembled as she smoothed down the cloak, trying to make it look untouched. Tazien crouched by the pedestal, wiping his sweaty palms on his shirt, eyes darting wildly around the chamber.

  “They said to check for anything odd,” the gruff voice added outside. “If you see something, call it in. Otherwise, we’re stuck out here all night.”

  The words scraped down the stairwell like gravel in a drainpipe.

  Ilyari’s chest rose and fell fast, every breath sharp and shallow. She grabbed Tazien’s arm, squeezing hard. “We have to move,” she mouthed.

  Together, they crept toward the stairs, steps agonizingly slow. Every creak of the old wood sounded like a gunshot in their ears. The Code-laced walls seemed to pulse harder, as if helping them, swallowing up some of the noise—but not enough.

  Outside, one soldier let out a frustrated sigh, boots scraping loudly against the porch rail. “Can’t believe we’re babysitting dirt-rats. What a joke.”

  “Orders are orders,” came the reply.

  As they crept up the staircase, Ilyari’s cloak brushed against the wall, giving her the feeling that something was crawling on her. She fought the urge to scream and kept crawling forward on her fingertips. Her fingers numb with panic, her heartbeat thundering in her ears so loudly she almost missed the next barked order:

  “Eyes sharp. Anything weird, we tear this place apart and we arrest those two immediately and bring them straight to the Emperor. Those are our orders whether you like it or not. Do I make myself clear Jorran? Mikkel?” the first soldier chided.

  "Crystal, Captain Relkan. And be nice to Mikkel. You know, he had to detach himself from the bed with his pretty wife for once."

  "Shut up Jorran. No one asked you. I hear you Captain Relkan. We won't let you down. What trouble could two sleeping brats cause?" questioned Mikkel. “Anyway, what about the corrupt beasts? Think they will make their way here? We should be looking more into that then these two.” Mikkel asked trying to change the subject.

  “That honestly wouldn’t be so bad, we could always let one or two slip through and there be an ‘accident’,” replied Jorran.

  “You two shut up and get out of that chair and do your jobs. It is only one night and if anything does happen, you’ll defend this plot like your family is in there. I’m going on patrol.” With that the steps of the Capitan Relkan retreated away.

  “Why did we get stuck with Capitan Goody-goody?” Jorran replied.

  “Our bad luck. I guess I’ll take the first stroll around the hovel. Maybe take a pee out in the garden.” Mikkel sighed.

  Ilyari’s breath caught. Her hand clamped over her mouth as she shot Tazien a look.

  They reached the top of the stairs at last, muscles screaming from the tension. As soon as Tazien cleared the panel, the door automatically slid shut with a soft click.

  They pressed flat to the floor, holding their breath, ears straining for any sign the soldiers had noticed.

  Above them, Jorran's boots thudded across the porch, pacing… and the other slowly circling the house. Ilyari’s head dropped onto her forearm, her breath ragged and shallow, chest heaving with silent worry. Tazien lay still beside her, staring at the ceiling, his whole body trembling.

  He looked at her afraid to speak out loud too afraid to reach out to her with the Code. So he waved his hands in the air in frustration motioning to the pacing boot sounds outside the window.

  She smiled, her eyes gleaming. She’d thought of something.

  We finally made it down the stairs.

  the truth of their bloodline, and yeah—those aren’t just bedtime stories anymore. Ancient Code. Secret rooms. Creepy soldiers. And weapons + a cloak that have been waiting for them all along.

  I want to know:

  scroll is hiding—and why hasn’t it opened yet? (Me personally, I'm hoping it is a super secret recipe. I'm dying for some great food right now!)

  ?? And be honest—what’s your gut saying about those soldiers outside? Do you think they’re just clueless, or is someone upstairs smarter than they seem?

  love reading your theories and reactions—it helps shape the feel of every new chapter. Smash that ? if you’re enjoying the ride so far, and tell me what you’re most curious (or worried ??) about next!